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Central Asia
The Central Asian region sits on some of the largest gas reserves, apart from being the crossroads between the Middle East, Russia, China, and the Indian subcontinent. The region's strategic value has attracted many external influences, many of them uninvited. US moves in the region since 9/11 appear to be geared towards plunging into the "Great Game". Some recent developments in the region:
- Terror in Uzbekistan - Daniel Kimmel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 2004.
Uzbekistan is the poster child for disproving the aggressive "democratization" theory propounded by the White House since 2002. What if the US turned its attention on Tashkent and forced a real election - would the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which calls for rule of the Islamic Sharia around the globe, come to power? Uzbekistan also exemplifies the failure of the scorched earth policy against religion-based extremism - Islam Karimov's boiling of HT suspects is quite effective in hardening Islamic extremism in that country, just as the carnage touched off by the US occupation of Iraq is promoting recruitment of terrorists around the globe.
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Uzbekistan Shuts Down Soros Foundation Projects - The Karimov regime doesn't take kindly to American pressure on reform, turns back towards Moscow.
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Russian Forces in Tajikistan: A Permanent Presence? - Stephen Blank discusses Russia's neo-imperialism in Central Asia in response to encroachment in its near abroad by the United States.
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